7.5.13

Here's Something Fun to Talk About...

Oh, hey, remember abortion? I know, I know, it's probably not something you want to talk about. Me neither. But there were two terrific bits of writing this week that tackled a notoriously thorny subject.

I think a lot of progressive Christians like myself, eager to distance ourselves from some of the rhetoric and policies of the Republican brand of the pro-life movement, shy away from talking about abortion, when our call to do justice and love mercy demand that we speak and act to address this issue, even though it may be more complicated than we originally thought.

The Daily Beast, on the other hand, is aiming at those on the left who, like the NRA, have fortified themselves so well against attackers that conceding middle ground, no matter how reasonable, is tantamount to suicide.

What we need to learn from the Gosnell case is that late-term abortion is infanticide. Legal infanticide. That so many people in the media seem untroubled by the idea that 12 inches in one direction is a “private medical decision” and 12 inches in the other direction causes people to react in horror, should be troubling. Indeed, Gosnell’s defense attorney Jack J. McMahon has relied on the argument that Gosnell killed the babies prior to delivering them, therefore he is not guilty of murder. His exact words were: “Every one of those babies died in utero.”